


Alone Together

by Cajdachan



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Campfire, Crystal Gems, F/F, Friendship/Love, Homeworld mentioned, Late Night Conversations, Pearlapis, Stargazing, lapearl - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-15
Updated: 2017-04-15
Packaged: 2018-10-19 04:18:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10632033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cajdachan/pseuds/Cajdachan
Summary: • Gems, Steven and Connie are spending some time together on the beach during Saturday night. However, Lapis left the party quite soon, thus Pearl decided to find her and try to bring the ocean gem back. Is she going to be successful?





	

   Pearl caught someone leaving the beach, disappearing into the night. But whom? Why would someone leave the party so soon? She thought everyone was having fun. Steven was dancing with his friend Connie to some loud music coming out of the radio, Peridot and Garnet, sitting by the campfire, were counting while Amethyst was filling her mouth with marshmallows. And Lapis...

   ‚ _Lapis_?‘ Pearl looked around, but she realized that Lapis was probably the one who was leaving.

   She stood up, looking for the ocean gem, but she couldn’t see her anymore. ‚ _Oh, come on. Where did you go?‘_ She asked herself. She was glancing around to find her, but everything she saw was just the beach, illuminated by the moonlight, the campfire and her fellow gems.

   She knew that spending time with them probably wasn’t Lapis‘ most favourite thing to do during Saturday night.

   Before Pearl decided to follow her, the last number she heard was thirty nine. Damn, Amethyst is a real marshmallow master.

   Pearl looked over her shoulder if someone was watching her, but nobody was paying attention to her at that moment. This was the perfect moment for her escape.

 

   Quietly she wended along the beach, following footprints which someone left there in the wet sand. The noise was slowly vanishing as Pearl was leaving the part of the beach near their homebase. After a few minutes of walking, everything turned into silence. The silence was calming and it also was making Pearl feel very comfortable. The ocean surface was mirroring whole sparkling night sky, the soft sound of ocean waves was caressing her ears, cool wind stroking her bare shoulders and pale cheeks. Pearl really enjoyed that. She enjoyed walking along the beach with the sky full of bright stars all over her head. She was enjoying it that much that she almost forgot that she was looking for someone. Pearl shook her head.

   „Come on, Lapis, where are you?“ She whispered, wondering that she might receive the answer.

   She walked almost for a half an hour, still following Lapis' footprints, but she couldn’t find her anywhere. Pearl stopped for a moment. Saddly she exhaled, looking up at the sky. She was in a doubt, but she couldn’t give up yet. She promised herself that she will find her. She was standing there for a while, looking around, and as she was deciding what to do next, suddenly she found a small figure sitting in the sand near the sea shore. A big bright smile appeared on Pearl’s cheeks. She started to walk again, happy that she finally found the person she was looking for.

   A blue gem was sitting there still, in a silence. She was curled up in a ball, head hidden in her lap, hugging her knees. After a moment Lapis heard soft footsteps coming from behind her back, but it didn’t make her lift her head up. Lapis thought for a moment if those footsteps were just some echo in her mind… But soon she realized that they were not.

   „Ahem–“

   Lapis rose her head, turning it towards the voice. A tall, skinny pale gem was standing there, looking at her. After a few seconds she broke the silence with a tender voice. „What are you doing here so alone?“ She asked.

   Lapis turned back, staring at the sea. „… I just…“ She sighed. „I needed a break. Get away from that noise for a while.“

   „Right.“ The pearl nodded. „Steven’s parties are getting louder and louder since we started organizing them on the beach.“ She giggled, but Lapis didn’t react, she just kept sitting.

   Pearl blinked. It was making her feel bad — seeing someone sitting somewhere so abandoned, away from everyone. Slowly she sat down next to Lapis. There was a silence for a while, just their breathing and waves of the ocean were making quiet noises.

   Pearl raised her head up to the night sky and a smile appeared on her cheeks. „It’s a beautiful view, isn’t it?“

   Lapis hesitated, she wasn‘t interested in looking up to the sky at all. She just wanted Pearl to keep her mouth closed. She wasn’t into talking to someone at the moment, so she decided to answer as quickly as possible and preclude any more questions. But then she looked up and froze, her pupils shaped into big stars. „Yeah… It is.“ After she saw the shining sky, she had to admit that it was absolutely wonderful.

   „The sky is so bright tonight… There are billions of stars to see.“ Pearl sighed dreamily. „I almost haven’t noticed it because of that beach party.“

   „… Do you like watching stars?“ The blue gem turned her head to Pearl. Suddenly she wanted to know, but she had no idea why it was so important to her.

   „I… Love it.“ Pearl smiled again, kind of surprised that Lapis was talking to her. „But I‘d rather explore them. Explore every single one of them, every single galaxy, explore every corner of the universe.“ She stroked the cool air, palm turned to the sky. But suddenly her smile almost vanished. „… You’re lucky you have wings. If I had them, I wouldn’t hesitate and fly away… And never come back.“

   „Well, I think that they’ve done more harm than good.“ Lapis snorted. „… While spending my entire life flying through the universe, I‘ve never noticed that the sky was that… beautiful. Even when it was right under my nose.“ She sighed slowly.

   Pearl looked up to the sky again. „But for sure it must‘ve been an amazing view — seeing whole universe on your own, in silence… With no one bothering you…“ Pearl looked aside, biting her lip. She sniffed.

   „… Hey.“ The ocean gem spoke with a smirk. „You’re not bothering me. I actually find it funny that we never spoke to each other and now… We’re actually talking.“ Lapis sighed with a tiny smile. „I always thought that you were like any other pearl on Homeworld. Just standing there, looking nice and feeling important. But… I guess you’re not like that…“

   „What do you mean?“ Pearl turned back to her, interested.

   Lapis swallowed. She blushed when she felt Pearl’s eyes uninterruptedly staring at her. „You’re just… Different.“ Her voice was so soft.

Lapis’ words warmed Pearl’s heart for some reason. Pearl couldn’t even imagine that they were enemies just a little while ago. Lapis has changed… She actually wasn’t that evil as Pearl always thought she was, anymore. She was so vulnerable from the inside. She was… Broken. Finally Pearl felt like she understood how much pain Lapis must have went through. Those thousands of years when she was trapped and she couldn’t even do anything. She couldn’t say anything or just leave. And then, when she was finally free, she sacrificed herself for them and drowned Malachite on the bottom of the ocean. Those months when she was imprisoned in her own chains, swallowing water and suffocating herself just to save some stupid planet that never meant anything for her, must‘ve been the worst part of her life.

   „… You’re nice… You’re nice to me. After all those bad things I did to you.“ Lapis spoke again. „I don’t even understand why are you giving me your attention after all I've done.“ A strange feeling was running through her body, but it was a good feeling for her at that moment, too.

   Pearl felt something, too. Something similar. Also she felt sorry for the other gem Pearl knew that she did bad things to Lapis, too, and now she had no idea how to fix them.

   The  pale gem sighed. „I’m sorry.“ She swallowed. Her voice was very low, Lapis almost missed it.

   „What?“

   She closed her light blue eyes. „I’m sorry, Lapis.“ She repeated.

   „For what?“ Lapis wrinkled her eyebrows.

   „I should’ve freed you from that mirror.“

   Lapis didn’t know what to say, but she knew that if she agreed, it would sound weird. So she just kept her mouth shut this time.

   „… I knew that you were in there, but… I was… Scared.“ She ruffled the sand next to her. „I didn’t know what would happen if I released you. We thought that you could be more dangerous in a physical form. That you could attack us…“

   „Well, I still can.“ The blue gem gave her a serious look. Pearl turned to Lapis, wondering how was this conversation going to continue.

   „W-would you really do that?“ Pearl asked, a little nervous. Lapis was silent. Pearl froze. She had no idea if Lapis was deciding what to answer. She didn’t know what was running through her mind.

   Lapis‘ face was serious, staring at her. She didn’t blink even once. She was sitting still, without moving a muscle.

   „… L-Lapis?“ She stuttered.

   Suddenly Lapis’ blue hair started to move, like if a wind was moving with it. But there was no wind, the air was absolutely calm. Also her dress started to move. Lapis slowly raised her hand to the sky. A big water arm started to form over the ocean.

   Pearl couldn’t move. She was nailed to the ground, staring at the great arm that was approaching her, thinking about what was going to happen.

   Suddenly Pearl felt two cold hands grabbing her wrists and pinning them to the ground, the great water arm just disappeared in the ocean.

   „What the–“ Pearl panicked, she couldn’t even finish the sentence when she found Lapis kneeling over her, pressing her hands against Pearl‘s.

   „… Now you’re my prisoner!“ Lapis smirked and laughed briefly.

   „What?!“ She yelled, confused and angry at the same time. Lapis couldn’t help herself but continue laughing.

   „What’s the meaning of this?“ Pearl tried to escape, but Lapis was holding her tightly, still laughing. „Do you really think that I would attack you?“ She snorted, cheeks flushed in dark blue.

   „You just did!“ Pearl answered, gazing at her. Lapis stopped laughing after a few seconds. She sat down on Pearl’s body and released her from her squeeze. The pale gem blushed, even harder than she expected.

   „Did this look like an attack? Oh… I’m sooo sorry about that.“ Lapis said with a whit of irony. Pearl gave her a grumpy face. She crossed her arms on her chest.

   „Could you just… Get off of me now? Please?“ She asked. But she wasn’t for one hundred percent sure if she really wanted that. That made her feel kind of… uncomfortable, and yet she was still blushing.

   „Whatever you say.“ Lapis shrugged, rolling her eyes. She sat down next to the pale gem. „Did you really think I would hurt you?“

   Pearl cleared her throat, still lying on the ground. „I… Don’t know.“

   Lapis snorted. „Don’t be silly.“ Then she laid down next to Pearl, hands folded under her head.

   Pearl put her hands on her stomach, watching the sky, feeling warmth of Lapis‘ body on her right side. She was so close.

   „So…“ Lapis turned her head to the side, looking at Pearl. „Why did you join the rebels?“

   Pearl’s eyes widened. „I-uh….“ She hesitated, eyes half closed now. Suddenly all of her memories ran through her head. The rebellion, the gem war and the life she had before it all happened.

   „Hm?“ Lapis raised her eyebrows.

   Pearl sighed. She was silent for a moment, thinking about what to say. „I joined the rebels because I wanted to be free and live my life my own way without anybody telling me what to do…" She paused." „… I’m defective anyway. Sooner or later, they would destroy me.“

   „I see…“ Lapis yawned quietly.

   „What were you doing on Earth anyway, during the war? I didn’t know that Lapises were soldiers.“ Pearl asked, turning to Lapis, but she didn’t say anything for a while.

   „… We’re not soldiers, we’re informants. I was here to get some informations about how was everything going, not to fight a war. But my mission failed and I got trapped. And now… I’m here.“ Lapis turned back to the other gem. „Lying here with some defective Pearl.“ She snorted, smiling at her.

   Pearl blushed, rolling her eyes. She dropped her hand on Lapis‘ shoulder and gently she pushed her away with a smirk. „Seems like you’re okay now, huh? Don’t you wanna go back to the party instead of making fun of me?“ She sat up and giggled.

   „Thanks, but I think I’m okey like this.“ Lapis blinked at her, smiling.

   „Okay.“ Pearl cleared her throat. „I’ll go then.“ She stood up.

   „Wait!“ Lapis stopped her and sat up quickly. Shyly she looked aside, bitting her lip, blushing a little. „I-I meant… I’m okay like this if… You’re here. You know… That I’m not alone.“

   Pearl froze. Her cheeks suddenly warmed up. „I thought that… You like being alone?“ She blinked at her.

   Lapis bit her lip again. „Well… I-It’s not always like that.“ She turned her head more to the side, she felt quite embarrassed because of what she said before. But she meant it.

   „So, should I stay?“ Pearl asked hesitately, but something inside of her was telling her that she should. And she wanted to. It was just hard for her to accept it.

   „Only if it’s okay with you.“ Lapis finally looked at her.

   Pearl swallowed, but then she smiled. „All right. I‘ll stay.“ She nodded, then she sat back down next to Lapis, much closer than before. Their shoulders were softly pressing against each other, slowly getting warm. They were watching the night sky again.

   „Thanks, Pearl.“ Lapis whispered. Slowly she laid her head on Pearl’s shoulder and closed her eyes. Pearl blushed at that. She didn’t even feel nervous about that, she didn’t feel strange. She felt nice. She knew that she did the right decision.

   Pearl laid her head on top of Lapis‘ then. She sighed softly. „Anything, Lapis.“ She said in a low voice, taking her hand with a gentle squeeze. „You won’t be alone anymore.“


End file.
